UPDATE: Layoffs At Universal, Sony BMG, Other Major Labels

We broke this story over the weekend, but here is the list to date of update on this year's Christmas layoffs at Island Def Jam, Sony BMG and elsewhere across major label and distributed labels.

Universal's Island Def JamCuts so far total about a dozen or 6% of the label's total staffing

Paul Pontius - A&R

Rob Stevenson - A&R

Greg Thompson - VP Of Promotion

Stolen Transmission - the entire label staff including founder Sarah Lewitinn. She vows to take the label indie and offers some personal insights on her blog

More cuts are rumored

Universal's Geffen

Unverified chatter on The Velvet Rope point to major staff cuts at Geffen with the label being reduced to imprint status

Sony BMG

reportedly up to 70 mid-level execs will be laid off before the end of the year

some appear to have already been notified

EMI

New owner Terra Firma has been clear with investors that major cuts are part of their re-organization strategy. Deciding exactly where the cuts will come apparently will be the job of a new CEO which they hope to name by year's end. That and the rumor mill point to January for EMI's layoffs.

Warner Music Group

No specifics yet from Warners. But the company did tell investors on an earnings call last week that its was constantly reviewng its "capital structure".

COMMENTARY: Expect end of the year layoffs to spread to other labels. And as sad as it is to see good people loose their jobs, expensive executive suites have long been a drag on the industry.

Deeper cuts across major label marketing, promo, and sales departments are far more troubling. At a time when labels are asking artists to sign broader 360 deals, they are also going to be less able to offer them the help they need to succeed.

The answer, however, is not just bulking up digital divisions with more VP's and SVP's as EMI is doing, but rather to hire more cost effective foot soldiers in all departments who understand technology and the fans and aren't afraid of the challenges ahead.

Comments

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What I see is BAD choices from people who lead the majors and GOOD workers and experts fired because of those choices. And the thing I really can't stand it's that A&R is the first role to be cutted off...is it possible?? They're the future!

I concur with Zhaul - NuRev, but it should be noted that you ought to look a little deeper at the majors than just their frontline labels. In just the past few weeks at least 4 friends of mine working on the catalog side of a single major label have gotten the axe.

And if these companies are shrinking on the frontline side that doesn't mean they can shirk their responsibilities to have the proper amount of personnel out there exploiting that massive catalog, because the catalog will still have to provide cash flow for the label, not to mention revenue for the thousands of artists and estates counting on those labels to find the proper exploitation opportunities in the marketplace.

These labels aren't just corporate giants; they happen to be repositories of the WORLD'S collective musical genius. Their archives are not just earnings engines, but significant historical documents to be preserved and maintained. And while I know there are many who work at these labels who take that custodial responsibility seriously the way the labels are shedding staff these days - we as a listening public need to make sure these companies are going to maintain that role diligently.

But, to be honest, I think it's just a matter of time before the majors sell off major portions of their catalogs to companies whose sole responsibility to maximize those holdings. Whether that's to a company like Apple or Microsoft or Google, or to some other type of company, time will only tell. But if these labels keep shedding personnel, then that's the one key sign that the labels themselves are managing for the short term and can't provide the services they claim to provide to signed acts... because increased workloads across the board can't lead to good things for those acts.

There will be 360 deals in the future... after the majors are gone and artist managers start to wield even more power with their clients. Managers already get a percentage of all artist revenue to begin with, so I don't see this as a major shift.